Alpiner
Platform: TI-99/4A
Region: USA
Media: Cartridge
Controller: Joystick, Keyboard
Genre: Arcade - Vertical
Gametype: Licensed
Release Year: 1982
Developer: Texas Instruments
Publisher: Texas Instruments
Players: 1 or 2 Alternating
Programmer: Janet Srimushnam
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Alpiner is a third-person action game in which the player's goal is to climb safely to the top of various mountains. Each of the six mountains the player climbs has various obstacles which should be avoided; falling rocks, avalanches, wild animals, trees, and brush fires can all hinder progress. Being hit by these obstacles will cause the player to lose progress, falling down part of the mountain (some obstacles cause a short falling distance, others a long distance). Should the player fall all of the way to the bottom of the mountain a life will be lost. To help anticipate obstacles, voice synthesis provide a warning when danger is near. Each mountain has a time limit in which it must be climbed, though the timer only counts down when the climber isn't moving. As the player progresses through the levels the mountains become higher and obstacles become faster and more numerous.

Trivia:

There are 6 mountains to climb in Alpiner (Hood, Matterhorn, Kenya, McKinley, Garmo, and Everest) and the elevations for each of them in the game are their actual (real world) heights.     

Most people have heard of all the mountains in this game except for Mt. Garmo. Well, a little research shows that Mt. Garmo is actually the original name for Ismoili Somoni Peak in Tajikistan (named in 1998). Back in the early 80's when Alpiner was programmed, the moutain was called Communism Peak and was the highest point in the former USSR. One just has to use a little imagination to understand why the decision was made to go with the original (pre-Soviet) name of the mountain! 

Secret Alert! Pressing the buttons "* # *" (in that sequence) on the cartridge's title screen allows the player to choose how many lives he/she wants to start out with (from 1-9) and the level of difficulty (from 1-18). However, the word "Test" is displayed on the bottom left of the screen once this cheat is enabled. Therefore, you will be hard pressed to try and convince your friends that you were able to get to level 18 in Alpiner without cheating! 


http://www.mobygames.com/game/ti-994a/alpiner
